Heart Rate, Steady
by whoahomo
Summary: He had lied, but he knows that she doesn't know that. She SHOULD be over the moon, and yet…  Shules-y-ish three-shot, with some Gus for flavor. Tag/alternate ending to S6 premier.
1. Where Shawn is a Mess

**AN- I've found that this makes much more sense if you've actually seen the Promo... just a little tip...  
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**INT. **_**We find Shawn and Lassiter sitting in interrogation. Shawn is hooked up to a polygraph machine, with Lassiter running the exam. Gus and Juliet are standing behind Lassiter, and Henry and the Chief soon walk in.**_

"_Look Lassie, we both know what this is about, this is about me and Juliet-"_

"_Answer only my questions please-"_

"_-Yes, we're together, you hate it, I get it,-"_

"_Spencer-"_

"_But I- I can't help it man,-"_

"_Spencer-"_

"_-I've been fighting this thing for years-"_

"_Spencer-"_

"_It's not just gonna go away-"_

"_Spencer, stop!"_

"_You're just gonna have to deal with the fact that I love her, okay?"_

_**The room is silent but for the scratching of the polygraph's needle and the steady beep of the machine keeping time with Shawn's heart.**_

_**Pulse- normal.**_

_**Heart rate- steady.**_

_xXx_

"Shawn?"

He stares blankly ahead. He has not responded to anyone since the… ordeal… this afternoon.

"Shawn, honey, please look at me."

He vaguely registers the voice of his girlfriend, practically begging him to give her a sign that he hasn't gone comatose. Briefly, he flicks his eyes to meet hers, but the sadness, the worry, the fear that he sees there only serves to strengthen his resolve. He will not hurt her again.

He is startled by a sigh of relief. He remembers that he wasn't supposed to be responding to anyone. He has to shut them out… all of them. It's only a matter of time before someone comes to arrest him… for all he knows, that could be the reason his girlfriend is here in the first place, and he will not drag anyone down with him.

"Sweetheart, can you please just talk to me? Tell me what's wrong?"

How can she not know? He said he loved her, in front of everyone… the chief, Lassiter… She could lose her job over this! And as if that weren't enough… he promptly proceeded to tell a blatant lie. He has beaten a polygraph before, more than once, in fact. He has never, however, lied so terribly to everyone he loves… to his family.

His father, of course, knows his secret, as does his lifelong partner in crime. He knows the chief had her suspicions, but he always got the feeling that she just didn't want to know. And Jules? Oh god… just the thought of how upset she would be was enough to make his stomach wretch. Damn Lassiter. He had begun to think of the man as a friend, as annoying and angry and insensitive as he could be, but this… This was crossing a line. Lassiter had gone too far, and he didn't think he could forgive him.

Completing his mental tangent, he became aware of Juliet's voice. Calm on the surface, but almost frantic to anyone choosing to listen. Raising his eyes once again, he found that he was alone. Her voice… that wonderful, beautiful voice… was coming from the kitchen. She was probably on the phone. Maybe with Lassiter. Maybe there was a new case. They had only solved a murder today… no big deal, they could take on another case. Who needs a break? It's not like she was overworked or anything. It's not like Shawn would be able to tell if she were…

Listening to the conversation, he concluded that she was probably not on the phone with her partner… She would never use such a tone with him in the first place. She would never show him weakness. But then who…

"I just don't know what to _do_, Gus!"

Ah, problem solved. Why was she talking to Gus? What didn't she know what to do with? Why didn't she… Oh, right.

Why was she so concerned?

He had lied.

He said he was psychic while hooked up to a polygraph machine. He said he loved her. His Jules should be over the moon, and yet…

_This_ Jules sounded like her entire world was falling apart.

He couldn't hurt her like this… He couldn't hurt her at all.

"Jules?"

"Oh Shawn, thank God."


	2. Where Juliet Figures it Out

She stares at him for awhile before actually trying to get his attention.

She has never seen him so still, so quiet. It's beginning to worry her.

"Shawn?"

Nothing.

"Shawn, honey, please look at me." She begs. She just wants him to respond. Anything would do, just to make sure he was still-

His eyes met hers. It's the briefest of flashes, but in that one look, she sees everything running through his mind.

She sighs in relief. At least he's alive.

He looks surprised for a moment, and she is glad to see some form of emotion, but it dissolves so quickly that she is sure she imagined it.

"Sweetheart, can you please just talk to me? Tell me what's wrong?"

Nothing.

Again.

Back to square one, and all she has to work with is a glance and what she saw in it.

There was turmoil, confusion… Fear. It was mostly fear. Of what, she can't be sure. Is he afraid of what he said? That he loved her? He meant it, right? He had to have meant it, there's no way he could've beaten the machine… Certainly not when he was on such a rant that he forgot to think before he…

Who was she kidding? Shawn never thought before he spoke.

But that look. The fear in his eyes… Didn't he know she loved him back? She did. She loved him with everything that she was. He had to know that. Of course he did, he was psy-

Oh.

Shit.

Shawn of all people… Of _course_ he could beat a polygraph machine. He was _Shawn. _She had seen him do much more impressive things than…

Shit.

Shit.

_Shit._

He wasn't… of course he wasn't. There's no such _thing_ as _psychics_! She had _never_ believed in psychics before, but suddenly Shawn pops into her life and she does?

No way.

She will not let him get away with this.

He has lied to her before, but this… this is huge…

This is his life.

If he could lie about _that_, then what if he…

No. He wasn't even paying attention to what he was saying. He wasn't trying to fool her, he wasn't trying to get a rise out of Carlton, he was much too angry. He meant it. He _means_ it. Of that, she is sure.

So it must be the "_other thing"… _that's bothering him.

Damn…

How could she not know? She's a God damn detective…

Shit.

She needs answers. She needs to talk to him… She needs her damn boyfriend, and he's being a damn idiot. What else is new?

She's not mad.

It hits her suddenly, that she isn't angry. She should be, she knows she should. She might even be, a little, but she can't really see very far past the panic edging its way further and further to the forefront of her mind as Shawn's stillness continues to drag on.

She doesn't really know what to do, and she tells Gus just that when she finally decides that her only viable option is to call him. He isn't much help.

"_He still isn't talking?"_

"No, Gus, do you really think we would be having this conversation if he were?"

"_This is _Shawn_ we're talking about, Juliet."_

"I know, Gus, but I'm still freaking out here."

"_Sorry. Have you tried pouring water on him?"_

"_Gus!_ Aren't you supposed to be the mature one?"

"_Weeelll…"_

"I just… I just don't know what to _do_, Gus!"

"_I'm sorry, Jules, I really am. But you can never tell with Shawn. Sometimes it takes days for him to come out of a funk, and sometimes, it only takes the simplest thing. Problem is, you never know what-"_

"Jules?"

"Oh Shawn, thank God."

The phone falls to the ground, Gus completely forgotten as she rushes to the annoying, idiotic, wonderful man she somehow fell in love with.

She hugs him, and they kiss. It's sweet and tender, but she pulls back. Her look suddenly becomes angry, and she doesn't even try to resist the sudden urge to slap him.

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you!"

Once the initial surprise subsides, he favors her with a sheepish grin.

"It's, ah… it's a long story."

She can't help it. She smiles when he gives her that adorable look. She decides she won't be angry until she knows for sure, one hundred percent, without any doubt, exactly what happened.

"We've got time."


	3. Where Gus Plays HR

**Ok, it's ACTUALLY done this time. I promise. Even if it did take a decade and I wasn't really planning on ever thinking about it again. The fact that I actually finished something is a miracle in and of itself, so be grateful. Or don't… I guess it really depends on whether this chapter tickles your fancy or just sinks your canoe. Either way, constructive criticism is welcome, just don't say anything stupid or I might respond with sarcasm. And let me know if there are typos, I am currently without spell check.**

**It's so cute how you though I owned Psych. We hear you, son, we hear you.**

He paces back and forth for a good ten minutes before deciding that he can't really do anything anyways. He knew this would happen when they started dating, and he's been preparing himself for the moment it actually starts, but it's still scary. He saw it coming, of course, back at the station. The minute Shawn blurted his love for his girlfriend of several months (though Gus is sure he has loved her for years) into the head detective's face, Gus knew that his best friend was on a fast track to disaster.

It was no surprise that he beat the polygraph. Henry had tried to teach the both of them, but being hooked up to the machine had made Gus so nervous that the readout would say he was lying whether it was the truth or not. Shawn, on the other hand, had picked it up unsurprisingly quickly. What was surprising was Shawn's reaction after the interrogation. He had fallen into an almost comatose state. He wouldn't talk, his eyes were glazed over… Gus had to watch for a full minute before he even saw the man blink.

This had happened once before, when Shawn found out that his parents were getting divorced. It had taken Gus three days to get him to even make eye contact.

This time was different though.

As soon as the interrogation room was clear, Shawn had looked at him. The pain in his eyes was almost tangible, and it startled Gus to think that he hadn't even considered this possibility.

They had been lying for six years. Shawn had never seemed to have any qualms about it, but this wasn't pushing Lassiter's buttons, this wasn't getting on a case. This was lying about who he _was_. This was telling his boss, his friends, and quite possibly the love of his life that he was something he wasn't. It wasn't doing it under the safety blanket of his usual theatrics either, it was under the close supervision of a proved and tested method for drawing the truth out of even the best liars. And Shawn was definitely one of the best.

It was Henry who suggested Juliet bring Shawn home. That in itself was almost as surprising as the last fifteen minutes had been. She hesitated a moment before glancing desperately at Gus, who took the hint and helped her get Shawn to his feet and out the door to her car. The curious audience they had accumulated on their trek to the front door was told that he was in the midst of a very strong vision, and shouldn't be disturbed.

Now, Gus sat alone in the Psych office. He took in all of the useless memorabilia that symbolized their adventures over the last six years. The lockers Shawn had insisted they needed, the dartboard that was almost never used because they were more likely to hit themselves than the target, that stupid frog that always turned up in the strangest places (no matter how many times he tried to get rid of it), even the crap that littered Shawn's desk brought back memories.

Looking around, he couldn't help but wonder how much longer it would be there. He and Shawn had closed another case with all of the requisite flailing and obnoxiousness that came with being within ten feet of Shawn Spencer, but a shift had taken place. One with all the subtlety of a magnitude 4.0 earthquake. Things would be different now. Good or bad, he couldn't say, it all depended on what happened in the next, oh, two hours?

Shawn would stay in rigor mortis for as long as he pleased… or until you gave him something worth responding to. Gus only hoped that Juliet would find whatever that thing was. Last time, it had started with a dare and 8 gallons of Cherry Garcia, and had ended at the Mexican border. The fact that it was almost fifteen years later meant almost nothing when it came to Shawn. _I'm praying for ya, Jules_.

He is startled out of his thoughts several minutes later by the shrill sound of his cell phone having a seizure. He knows who it will be before he even looks at the caller ID. He had hoped that she would be able to fix him, but he also knows that that had been wishful thinking. Shawn was broken and he didn't seem to need a simple change of batteries, which left the unfortunate consumer with no option but to call tech support. Gus hated being tech support.

She sounds, well, freaked out. Despite his constant claim to game, Gus isn't really all that good with emotional women. And this is _Shawn's_ woman, so it just makes it all the more complicated. He tries to think of what his best friend would do in this situation, and almost slaps himself for having to think about it at all.

Humor.

Shawn _loves_ to make her laugh on a good day, and he loves to cheer her up on a bad one. Gus figures the best option here is to channel his inner Shawn to help the distressed woman on the other end of this metaphoric tight rope. Because that's what it is. It's a delicate balance, and one wrong move could send you plunging to your death. Metaphorically.

So, he tells her to dump some water on him.

Apparently, humor only works for Shawn.

Maybe he'll just channel his inner human resources manager instead.

After recovering from her indignant outburst at his suggestion, he tells her honestly that he doesn't know what to do. Maybe he leaves out the part where he hasn't seen his best friend do this in a decade and a half, but if he wants that idiot to get better, he can't afford to have a _trained police officer_ freaking out more than she already was.

Turns out, it didn't really matter either way, because halfway through his explanation of his knowledge on these events, he hears a faint voice in the background, and a much louder noise that sounds suspiciously like the phone crashing to the ground.

He is surprised, and stays on the line long enough to hear Juliet's relief become frightened anger, and Shawn's almost blasé response that holds so much more meaning than she can fathom at this moment.

But that's not the point.

The point is that Shawn's finally responsive, if a very long way from even getting into the doghouse.

It's that Juliet knows the truth, both about the man she loves, and her feelings for him.

And that sometimes, Gus feels like a damn kindergarten teacher.


End file.
